Janie Heath PhD, APRN-BC, FAAN

Janie is the Dean and Warwick Professor of Nursing at the University of Kentucky, College of Nursing. She has been an endowed professor of nursing and the chief academic officer at the University of Virginia and the Medical College of Georgia. She has provided academic leadership for Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Critical-Care Clinical Nurse Specialist Programs at Georgetown University in Washington DC and at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Heath earned her Master of Science Degree, with a clinical nurse specialist focus, from the University of Oklahoma and her Post-Masters with an acute-adult nurse practitioner focus from the University of South Carolina. She completed her PhD in Nursing from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia in 2004. She has over 40 years of acute and critical care nursing experience in various positions from staff to administration to advanced practice and academia. She has been awarded over $12 million for academic and/or research initiatives, generated over 150 publications and abstracts, served on numerous regional and national task forces for tobacco control and advanced practice nursing initiatives. Her primary research program of study involves workforce development utilizing the Rx for Change: Clinician Assisted Tobacco Cessation Curriculum to effectively intervene with tobacco dependent populations in acute and primary care settings. In addition, Dr. Heath served as a Board of Director for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), served as the inaugural Chair for the “Beacons of Leadership Initiative in Pursuit of Healthy Work Environments” a 30 hospital wide collaborative in the Washington DC – Baltimore MD area for the Greater Washington Area Chapter of AACN and founded the Nurses for Tobacco Control national coalition for nurse educators.